According to the WSJ, Salesforce will build its upcoming Internet of Things Cloud software on top of AWS, taking its newest initiative to Amazon's cloud computing service.Business Insider | May 11, 2016, 07:59 IST

Even Uber is reported to be contemplating a move to the public cloud, taking bids from the cloud arms of Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.

By Eugene Kim

Amazon Web Services has just signed another big client to its expanding customer list: Salesforce, the $50 billion cloud software maker.

According to the WSJ, Salesforce will build its upcoming Internet of Things Cloud software on top of AWS, taking its newest initiative to Amazon's cloud computing service. Salesforce's IoT Cloud, which collects data from connected devices and gives recommended actions to sales and customer service reps, was first announced last fall, but will become available later this year.

Salesforce runs the majority of its service on its own data centers. But it's been running some parts of its service on public cloud providers, like AWS, and Tuesday's move signals it could migrate more of its workload over to the public cloud.

That would make Salesforce the latest big company to increase its reliance on AWS. From upstarts like Netflix to banks like Capital One, a growing number of big enterprises are finding AWS a viable option to run their services. Even Uber is reported to be contemplating a move to the public cloud, taking bids from the cloud arms of Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.

But given Salesforce's wide-array of customers, including companies with strict regulatory compliance requirements, it's unlikely Salesforce will go full-force to the public cloud providers, the way Netflix has. Salesforce's IoT Cloud EVP Adam Bosworth told the WSJ that it will be a mix of its own data centers and public cloud services.

In any case, Salesforce's latest move reflects the growing size of AWS. In its latest quarter, AWS generated $2.6 billion in revenue, with an operating income of $604 million, making it the most profitable business at Amazon. That's a 64% growth from the same period of last year, but some analysts predict it'll grow even more, as Deutsche bank recently projected AWS to be a business worth $160 billion.